April 4, 2013

"They object to calling them 'masks' and say that outsiders who photograph, collect or sell them are committing sacrilege.... The Néret-Minet auction house... estimates that it will bring in $1 million. Many of the objects are more than 100 years old and carry estimates of $10,000 to $35,000.... 'Sacred items like this should not have a commercial value,' said Leigh J. Kuwanwisiwma, director of the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office in Kykotsmovi, Ariz. 'The bottom line is we believe they were taken illegally.'"

22 comments:

If they wanted to keep them they shouldn't a sold em.Some of those feathers look suspiciously like pheasant feathers.Pheasant aren't native to N.America. They were introduced sometime in the 30s.They're auctioning off native american tourist chachkis.

Most of the European, Mid- Eastern and Asian artifacts were taken away at gun point as spoils of war of conquest by the locals, and some came back with the US Army that then went in and died to free the conquered locals.

But the Hopi's witchcraft ceremonial masks belong to the demons in them, who are quite capable of protecting themselves.

You know it is just so nice to see so many learned people allude to ethnic and cultural slurs in this blog.But hey it is only Native Americans.You know thepeople that the US government practised genocide against and attempted to destroy outright the cultures of.No reason for any of them to be sensitive about theft of their heritage right?

A lot of Chinese and Egyptian objects were just appropriated by the Euros, especially the Limeys, but here there appears room for doubt.

And, just to show them once again how much help the government can be, we have this line, "The tribe is receiving advice from the State and Interior Departments, but each agency says its ability to intervene is limited".

Let see Rusty alluded ton"Indian giving".And Rob stated that the Hopi are on the Warpath.I just stated facts considring that the estimated rate of alcoholism amonf reservation dwellers is better than 70 percent.Which Paul would you call a slur and which just an unpleasant truth.

Tony Hillerman starts one of his Jim Chee mysteries thus: a local Navajo objects to an anthropologist digging up an ancient gravesite. Anthropologist ignores him. Soon thereafter, anthropologist receives, at his office at (some Ivy U) a box with a cover letter. The letter explains that the remains in the box were excavated, after careful scientific research, from a gravesite in (some New England location). Guess who's grandfather was in the box?

My wife is a serious collector of katsinam, which are the dolls. Selling dolls in now considered OK, but wasn't always. The masks, properly called faces, have never been sold or given. It is possible to get other parts of dancers costumes such as sashes and rattles, but never a face. The feathers on that one mask do look like pheasant feathers. My wife says its common and acceptable to replace feathers as they get pretty tatty in the long run. God help you if you aren't Native American and want eagle feathers or possess even one - serious federal offense.When Hopi first started selling katsinam dolls, traditionalists objected. One such was a carver who succumbed to the lure of the money, but he made katsinam that were a mash-up of actual katsinam features. Hence, in his mind, not a real katsinam and OK to sell. The tourists didn't know the difference - today these dolls are quite valuable. A lot of what is sold to tourists is a real mash-up anyway, sometimes made by, the horror, Navahos.